Matthäus is the most capped German player of all time, retiring with a total of 150 appearances (83 for West Germany) in 20 years, and 23 goals. Matthäus is a member of the FIFA 100 list of the greatest living football players chosen by Pelé.[2]Diego Maradona said of Matthäus, "he is the best rival I've ever had. I guess that's enough to define him", in his book Yo soy el Diego (I am the Diego).[3]

A versatile and complete player, Matthäus was renowned for his perceptive passing, positional sense, well-timed tackling, as well as powerful shooting. During his career, he usually played as a box-to-box midfielder, although late in his career he played as a sweeper.

Matthäus continued to enjoy further success with Inter, winning the UEFA Cup in 1991 and being named FIFA World Player of the Year. In the final, he scored a penalty in the first leg to help them to their victory over Roma. Returning to Bayern Munich in 1992, he won four Bundesliga titles, two DFB-Pokals, another UEFA Cup and reached a second European Cup final in 1999.

Matthäus scores a penalty kick against Bulgarian goalkeeper Borislav Mihaylov in the 1994 World Cup quarterfinal

The only major honour which eluded Matthäus, for competitions in which he played, was the UEFA Champions League. Famously, he came within two minutes of picking up a winners' medal in 1999, only to have his hopes dashed by Manchester United, who scored two last-minute goals in the final, after he was substituted in the 86th minute of play while the team was still leading 1–0. When the two teams went to collect their medals Matthäus removed his runners-up medal immediately after he received it – it was the second time he had been on the losing side in a final under similar circumstances; in the 1987 final, Bayern had been leading 1–0 most of the game until two late goals gave FC Porto the win. After Matthäus retired, Bayern would win the Champions League in 2000–01 and later that year the Intercontinental Cup. His last official match for Bayern took place in Munich on 8 March 2000 and was a Champions League match against Real Madrid, which Bayern won 4–1.

During the 1999–2000 season, Matthäus moved from Bayern to the MetroStars team of Major League Soccer in the United States. He played in the USA from March to October 2000 and retired from professional football afterwards. During his season with the MetroStars, he traveled to St. Tropez when he was supposed to be rehabbing his back.[5]

By now, he also had a regular place in the national team for the 1986 World Cup, scoring the winner in the round of 16 against Morocco. In the final, despite his considerable play-making ability, he was assigned to mark Argentina's Diego Maradona. West Germany lost their second consecutive World Cup final 3–2.

Lothar Matthäus has won more Germany caps than anyone else, 150, and went to nine major international tournaments, captaining the 1990 World Cup-winning team.

His immediate success in Serie A was a precursor to the national team which finally managed to triumph at the 1990 FIFA World Cup held in Italy. Six of West Germany's squad played professionally there and Matthäus played most of the World Cup games at Inter's home Stadio San Siro. West Germany was the best team of the tournament and one of the few to choose an attacking style of play contrary to previous German teams' more defensive style of play. Matthäus led his squad from midfield and personally scored four goals, including two against Yugoslavia. West Germany reached its third consecutive final, which was a rematch against Maradona-led Argentina and this time Matthäus and his team emerged victorious 1–0 thanks to Brehme converting an 85' penalty. As captain, Matthäus had the honour of hoisting the final World Cup shortly before the German reunification in 1990. Both the (West) German team and state remained the same when the East Germans joined. Matthäus later said that playing the World Cup in Italy was "like playing a World Cup at home".[6]

He was injured and unable to take part in UEFA Euro 1992; though a reunified Germany made the final but lost 2–0 to surprise Denmark. At the 1994 FIFA World Cup hosted by the United States, he captained the team but now operated as sweeper. He scored a penalty in the quarter-finals, which was also his record-tying 21st match, but the Bulgarians scored twice in three minutes to upset the defending champions. USA '94 was expected to be his last tournament, though he did not officially retire from international play. Matthäus was afterwards not called up for the national team, due to feuding with succeeding captain Jürgen Klinsmann and coach Berti Vogts. In his absence Germany won UEFA Euro 1996 which was held in England.

He earned his last three caps at UEFA Euro 2000, his 150th cap being against Portugal, where Germany had a disastrous first round exit.[8]

Coaching career

One year after ending his illustrious playing days, Matthäus started a coaching career, which has so far been much less distinguished. In his print interviews and other media appearances he has been clear about his goal and desire to coach in the Bundesliga. His hope was that taking coaching jobs abroad would lead to offers from Germany.

When none came his way even after multiple foreign appointements, he often complained about it in the German press in-between his coaching stints. In November 2009, he gave a lengthy interview to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in which he complained about what he considers to be inadequate treatment he receives in Germany as a former great. He also bemoaned the lack of coaching job offers extended to him in the Bundesliga – saying German clubs perceived him as being too much of a Bayern supporter and too closely linked with the influential Bild tabloid newspaper to give him a job.[9]

Inheriting a team at the top of the league table, Matthäus achieved the immediate goal by steering Partizan to the 2002–03 league title in convincing fashion, at one point even extending the lead over the second-placed rivals Red Star Belgrade to 19 points. Still, his finest hour with the club came in August 2003 when Partizan eliminated Newcastle United in the Champions League third qualifying round to reach the 2003–04 competition's group stage. Following the first leg 0–1 loss at home, the cause seemed lost, however Partizan improbably triumphed 0–1 away at St. James' Park, taking the tie to penalties. The penalty series brought further dramatic changes of momentum before Milivoje Ćirković's successful spot kick finally put Partizan through. Interestingly, Matthäus had his back turned to the pitch as couldn't bear to watch the drama of Ćirković's penalty. Though drawn in a tough group with powerhouse Real Madrid of the first galáctico era, eventual champions FC Porto, and Olympique de Marseille, Partizan played some inspired football that autumn, only narrowly missing out on the UEFA Cup spot.

On 13 December 2003, right after finishing the final league match of the half-season (0–1 win away at FK Železnik) before the winter break, Matthäus abruptly resigned his post at Partizan by addressing the players and club leadership in private.[13] A club spokesperson said Matthäus would clear everything up at a press conference that he scheduled for two days later, but it was already widely speculated through reports in the Hungarian press that the German had agreed terms with the Hungarian Football Federation to coach the Hungary national team. The rumours proved true as he officially signed the contract in Budapest and also got introduced to the media gathered at the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus.[14]

Four months after leaving Belgrade, in mid-April 2004, the row over terms of Matthäus' contract with Partizan was opened with both parties publicly going back and forth at each other. It began with Matthäus, by now Hungarian national team head coach, giving a detailed interview to Serbian press in which he accused Partizan club leadership of breaching the additional terms of his contract.[15] It became known on that occasion that his initial contract with Partizan that was finalized on 1 January 2003 included a base guaranteed part as well additional premium clauses giving him between 5–10% from players' transfers and shirt sponsorships (as well as Champions League bonus incentives). Matthäus said that after none of that was honoured he gave up on asking for his percentages of the Danko Lazović and Zvonimir Vukić transfers as well as Superfund shirt sponsorship deal due to "not wanting to upset the team atmosphere during Champions League qualifying", but instead pushed for the additional terms to be renegotiated. After successful Champions League qualification, the additional terms were in fact renegotiated with Partizan's general secretary Žarko Zečević so that both parties agreed to put the previous additional terms out of effect and instead now give Matthäus 15% of Igor Duljaj's (the club's best young asset at the time) future transfer abroad as well as to allow Matthäus to leave the club any time he wanted without penalties. Duljaj was sold to Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2004 for US$4 million, and Matthäus claimed Partizan failed to pay him the agreed percentage ($600,000 or €469,500). The club responded two days later in a lengthy press release saying that they don't owe him any money.[16] One day after that, Matthäus decided to sue Partizan for the amount of US$600,000 before Sports Arbitration Court in Lausanne, Switzerland.[17]

Hungary national team

The country once synonymous with world class football was trying to return its national team on the path of former 1950s glory, and Matthäus was given the task of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup. After being drawn in a tough group with Sweden, Croatia and Bulgaria that goal looked increasingly difficult.

The campaign started in the autumn of 2004 and fairly quickly it became obvious Hungary were in over their heads. The opening 3–0 loss away at Croatia in early September was somewhat offset four days later by the 3–2 hard fought home win versus Iceland. A month later, Matthäus' Hungary faced another important test away from home, this time at Sweden. And once again it finished in disappointment with another demoralizing 3–0 loss. Before the winter break, Hungary managed to beat the minnows of the group Malta thus finishing the Autumn part of the qualifying in fourth place with six points, mathematically still within striking distance of the leading trio. Notable was a 2–0 win in a friendly in Kaiserslautern against Germany on 6 June 2004.

As the qualifiers resumed in late March 2005, Hungary hosted Bulgaria in what was pretty much a must win match for Matthäus' squad, however they only managed a draw right at the end with the goal coming in 90th minute for a 1–1 final scoreline. As Croatia and Sweden both won on the same occasion, the leading duo of teams now tangibly separated themselves from the pack of chasers, all of which meant that in order to qualify Hungary would have to win all its remaining fixtures and even get some outside help in terms of favourable results elsewhere. Such improbable scenario failed to materialize and they ended up in fourth place with 14 points from 10 matches, well behind Croatia and Sweden who earned 25 and 24 points, respectively. Somewhat unexpectedly, Matthäus was allowed to finish out the campaign behind the bench, and was even offered Hungarian citizenship, which he at the time said he would accept. There's no word whether he actually did. Matthäus left the Hungarian national team on 11 January 2006.[19]

After he left the Hungary post, Matthäus was vocally critical of the Hungarian Football Federation, accusing it in November 2007 of "not contributing, but exploiting Hungarian football" and citing that "it's not coincidental that the Hungarian bid to host Euro 2012 didn't receive any votes".[20]

Atlético Paranaense

Matthäus signed a one-year contract to coach Brazilian club Atlético Paranaense from the city of Curitiba on 11 January 2006.[19] However, after only seven matches in charge (five wins, two draws) from the start of the 2006 Paranástate championship he quit the club in March 2006 citing the need to be closer to his family. The way he left raised some questions about his professionalism. Apparently, only five weeks after signing a contract he informed club officials about a need to rush back to Europe in order to deal with an urgent personal problem, but assured them he'd be back in 3–4 days. After missing for two weeks, he faxed in his resignation on 20 March and never even went back to Brazil to pick up his personal belongings.[21] Some ten days later, Atlético put out a release mentioning that Matthäus ran up R$13,000 (US$5,915) in phone charges that the club wanted him to pay.[22][23] The club even posted the bill on their website.[24]

Red Bull Salzburg

On 19 May 2006, only two months following the bizarre Brazilian episode, Matthäus was announced as coach of Red Bull Salzburg (formerly Austria Salzburg) for the upcoming 2006–07 season. Shortly, the club also signed Giovanni Trapattoni (incidentally Matthäus' former coach at both Internazionale and Bayern) to be their director of football. In practice, this meant that Trapattoni and Matthäus essentially shared coaching duties.

Despite co-leading the team to the Austrian league title by a large margin, Matthäus would eventually be fired on 12 June 2007 by unanimous decision of the Red Bull Salzburg's board of directors.

Maccabi Netanya

On 29 April 2009, with the Israeli league season still ongoing and Netanya sitting in fourth place, it was announced that Matthäus will not be back for the second season once the current one is finished.[26] The reason cited was the financial trouble that the club was going through.[26] Matthäus' club finished the league season in fourth spot.

Bulgaria national team

On 23 September 2010, it was announced that Matthäus would be the new coach of the Bulgarian national team after the resignation of Stanimir Stoilov a few weeks earlier.[27] His contract was for one year with the option for a two-year extension.

He started with a 1–0 win against Wales in Cardiff on his debut. Matthäus led Bulgaria to their first win in 2010 and in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualification campaign. On 12 October 2010, he led Bulgaria to a 2–0 win over Saudi Arabia in a friendly. On 17 November 2010, in a friendly played in Sofia, Bulgaria lost to Serbia 0–1. Despite winning his first match in the qualifiers against Wales, Bulgaria under Matthäus were unable to qualify for Euro 2012, following draws with Switzerland and Montenegro, as well as a home loss against England. On 19 September 2011, it was revealed that Matthäus had been sacked.[28]

Personal life

During his first marriage that lasted from 1981 until 1992, wife Silvia gave birth to two daughters Alisa (born 1986) and Viola (born 1988).

In 1994, he married Swiss model and TV presenter Lolita Morena with whom he had a son, Loris (born 1992). The marriage ended in 1999.

While coaching FK Partizan in Belgrade, he met Serbian socialite Marijana Kostić who became his third wife on 27 November 2003. It was her third marriage as well. By late 2007 the couple separated and she filed for a divorce. Their divorce became official in late January 2009 following the conclusion of a year-long court case in Salzburg, Austria (their last residence) over the division of assets.[30]

In December 2008, 47-year-old Matthäus married then 21-year old Ukrainianmodel Kristina Liliana Chudinova. The ceremony was held in Las Vegas. They met a year earlier at the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich. The couple lived in Tel Aviv, Israel, where Liliana studies journalism in a local university;[31] but started living separately by early 2010.[32]

Matthäus and his wife Anastasia Klimko have a son, Milan (born April 2014) and live in Hungary.